More and more people are relying on electronic forms of communication in their day-to-day lives. It is possible to send letters, pictures, movies, and other sorts of information electronically. Indeed, the amount and type of information being transmitted seems to increase almost daily.
There are a number of benefits associated with the transition to electronic forms of communication. For example, email, SMS, and other forms of communications can be exchanged almost instantaneously between people located almost anywhere around the globe. Electronic communications also can have a net positive environmental impact, e.g., as more and more individuals and companies strive to go paperless in their homes and/or offices.
Large enterprises, which may have multiple domestic and/or international locations, cooperate with other corporations or individuals in different places, etc., also can leverage the benefits of electronic communications. Through technological tools, business process orchestration and management techniques can help large enterprises achieve new efficiencies.
Unfortunately, not all individuals fully “trust” electronic communications. For example, when it comes to delivering financial statements, paying bills, etc., many people still rely on paper, at least to some extent, e.g., because of a perceived security risk. Individuals also sometimes wonder about personal privacy, even where non-financial data is concerned. These perceived issues can complicate, and sometimes prevent, information exchanges as between individuals, and as between an individual and an organization.
The ability to leverage the benefits of information technology on the part of organizations also has in the past met with challenges. For instance, large enterprises oftentimes are not able to leverage “off-the-shelf” solutions for migrating business practices from traditional paper operations to purely electronic solutions, much less to hybrid solutions. In order to arrive at a usable system, an enterprise might well have to resort to a custom-developed software and/or hardware package. The development of such a proprietary solution might require a deep knowledge of the internal business processes, types of data to be handled, etc., thereby imposing constraints on who can develop such solutions, increasing development costs, and potentially exposing sensitive organizational and/or personal information. As a result, proprietary “solutions” for data transfers typically are not very flexible and typically are not applicable or easily adaptable to meet the needs of other organizations, even when those needs at least on a conceptual level are the same or somewhat similar as between the different organizations.
Similar challenges are faced when attempting to integrate or coordinate operations between different providers across different organizations, different units in a single large organization, etc. Again, custom development typically is needed and oftentimes results in a “solution” that is custom-developed in an inflexible and inextensible manner.
Thus, it will be appreciated that there is a need in the art for improved file transfer systems and/or methods that are secure and that are adaptable for use by different organizations with requirements that are not necessarily known a priori.
Certain example embodiments relate to file transfer systems and/or methods that address these and/or other issues.
One aspect of certain example embodiments relates to a file transfer solution, offered by a single provider, that enables different customers to customize their own file transfer solutions that are secure, scalable to handle enterprise-level amounts of data, and able to meet customer-specific needs even though such needs are not known in advance.
Another aspect of certain example embodiments relates to delegating management responsibilities of the customer-specific instances of the single file transfer solution, in an optionally sub-delegatable manner. Advantageously, the single provider need not be consulted after deployment time, e.g., for security management and/or other routine maintenance issues.
Another aspect of certain example embodiments enables different enterprises to set up and manage their own secure portals to data, with those secure portals being set up for themselves, for other enterprises, and/or for individuals.
Still another aspect of certain example embodiments relates to facilitating two-way file transfers in a convenient manner.
Yet another aspect of certain example embodiments relates to facilitating file transfers in which recipient parties do not need to sign up for user accounts but still are able to access the files sent to them.
In certain example embodiments, there is provided a secure file transfer system comprising processing resources including at least one processor and a memory, and a non-transitory data store. The processing resources are configured to: receive requests from customers to establish top-level accounts with the secure file transfer system; in response to received requests, allocate portions of the non-transitory data store for the customers making the respective requests, and create a dedicated portal for each said top-level account; and facilitate transfers of computer-storable assets to and/or from users associated with the respective top-level accounts through downloads and/or uploads of such assets through the respective dedicated portals and using the respective allocated portions of the non-transitory data store. All or substantially all desired top-level account configuration details, including procedural approaches to be used in transferring computer-storable assets, whether client devices involved in transferences of computer-storable assets are internal and/or external to the respective customers, and aspects of how the top-level account will be managed in terms of user roles, are not known to the secure file transfer system prior to being deployed by the top-level account customers themselves.
In certain example embodiments, a method of operating a secure file transfer system having processing resources including at least one processor and a memory, as well as a non-transitory data store, is provided. Requests are received from customers to establish top-level accounts with the secure file transfer system. In response to a received request to establish a top-level account: a portion of the non-transitory data store is allocated for the customer making the respective request, and a dedicated portal is created for the respective top-level account. Transfers of computer-storable assets to and/or from users associated with the respective top-level accounts through downloads and/or uploads of such assets are facilitated through respective dedicated portals and using respective allocated portions of the non-transitory data store. All or substantially all desired top-level account configuration details, including procedural approaches to be used in transferring computer-storable assets, whether client devices involved in transferences of computer-storable assets are internal and/or external to the respective customers, and aspects of how the top-level account will be managed in terms of user roles, are not known to the secure file transfer system prior to being deployed by the top-level account customers themselves.
In certain example embodiments, there is provided at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly storing instructions that, when performed by processing resources including at least one processor of a secure file transfer system, at least: process requests received from customers to establish top-level accounts with the secure file transfer system; in response to a received request to establish a top-level account: allocate a portion of a non-transitory data store of the secure file transfer system for the customer making the respective request, and create a dedicated portal for each said top-level account; and facilitate transfers of computer-storable assets to and/or from users associated with the respective top-level accounts through downloads and/or uploads of such assets through the respective dedicated portals and using the respective allocated portions of the non-transitory data store. All or substantially all desired top-level account configuration details, including procedural approaches to be used in transferring computer-storable assets, whether client devices involved in transferences of computer-storable assets are internal and/or external to the respective customers, and aspects of how the top-level account will be managed in terms of user roles, are not known to the secure file transfer system prior to being deployed by the top-level account customers themselves.
In certain example embodiments, a file transfer system is provided. There are provided processing resources including at least one processor, and a non-transitory data store. The processing resources are configured to: maintain a plurality of file transfer system instances, each said file transfer system instance being scalable to accommodate a number of users expected for an enterprise-wide operation and an amount of data suitable for an enterprise, regardless of how many users actually use, and how much data is actually stored to the non-transitory data store in connection with, the respective file transfer system instance; generate new file transfer system instances upon receipt of corresponding verified user requests; for each said file transfer system instance, provide a sub-delegable delegation of authority to exactly one administrator of the respective file transfer system instance that at least enables specification of an approach to be used in sharing data storable to the non-transitory data store among and/or between users who, directly or indirectly, use the respective file transfer system instance; and for each said file transfer system instance, facilitate the sharing of data, using the non-transitory data store and the respective specified approach to be used in sharing data, and in accordance with the respective sub-delegable delegation of authority, among and/or between the users who, directly or indirectly, use the respective file transfer system instance. For each said file transfer system instance, (a) how the respective approach to be used in sharing data will be specified, (b) whether and how the respective sub-delegable delegation of authority will be distributed, (c) the identities of users, other than the one administrator, who will actually use the respective file transfer system instance, and (d) the amount of data that actually will be stored in connection with the respective file transfer system instance, are at least initially not known to the file transfer system and thereafter can be influenced by users in accordance with the respective sub-delegable delegation of authority in ways not knowable to the file transfer system in advance. Corresponding methods and/or non-transitory computer readable storage media may be provided in certain example embodiments.
The features, aspects, advantages, and example embodiments described herein may be combined in any suitable combination, sub-combination, or combination of sub-combinations, to realize yet further embodiments.